Wad for cartridge



A. M. R. LALOUX 2,773,451

WAD FOR CARTRIDGE Dec. 11, 1956 Filed Feb. 21, 1952 Fig.1

INVENTOR.

Anal/ee M. L. R. 1.32002 Patented Dec. 11, 1956 WAD FOR CARTRIDGE AndreMarie Louis Rene Laloux, Liege, Belgium, assignor to Fabrique NationaledArmes de Guerre, Herstal- Liege, Belgium, a Belgian society ApplicationFebruary 21, 1952, Serial No. 272,807 Claims priority, applicationBelgium February 21, 1951 1 Claim. (Cl. 102-95) In the cartridges, theprojectiles or shot are separated from the powder by means of a more orless elastic element referred to as wad. The known wads generallyconsist of disks made of compressed material, such as felt or granulatedcork.

One major drawback of said wads resides in their lack of tightness orsealing effectiveness, which results in a low efiiciency due to the gasleakages, the grouping of the shots because of the heat of said gasesand the dispersion of the shot cones.

Wads are also known comprisinga cup associated with the conventionalwads: in this case the concavity of the cup is turned towards thepowder; said cup constitutes a standard pneumatic joint: under the gaspressure, the side casing of said cup applies against the side wall ofthe case and then against the gun, thereby preventing the gas leakages.

This type of wad makes the charging difficult, as the first element tobe engaged is the cup, which may accidentally swing or which sometimeshooks on the rim of the case.

The oblique or inverted position taken by said cup does not ensure thetightness or sealing effect desired and, which is more serious, it isimpossible to detect said deficiency when the charging has beenefiected.

The present invention which aims to eliminate the above-mentioneddrawbacks has for its object a wad comprising a tightness or sealing cupacting by distortion under the effect of the internal pressure,associated with guiding means for preventing swinging and facilitatingthe introduction of the case into the tube.

According to one feature of the present invention, the guiding meansconsists of :a cup arranged back to back with the tightness or sealingcup, which in one embodiment is joined to the latter by any convenientmeans, such as rivet, glue, screw, and so on.

In a preferred embodiment, the wad comprising a tightness cup and aguiding cup is made in one piece i. e. the wad consists of a single partprovided with two opposite cavities, one of which, turned towards thepowder, constitutes the tightness cup while the other, turned towardsthe charge, constitutes the guiding cup. The latter may be filled withany material, such as felt, board, sawdust, and so on.

The invention will be more clearly explained with reference to theaccompanying illustrative drawing showing two embodiments.

Figs. 1 and 2 are longitudinal sectional views of two embodiments of awad according to the invention.

In the embodiment shown in Figure 1, the tightness cup 2 is disposedback to back with a guiding cup 3 after a disk 4 made of felt or similarmaterial has been inserted. The three parts of the wad are fixedtogether by means of a rivet 5. Said rivet may be replaced by a bolt orother fixing means. In this embodiment, the constituent parts of the wadare thus separately made and then assembled.

According to the embodiment shown in Figure 2, the wad consists of acylindrical body 6, with two opposite cavities 7 and 8, separated withthe disk 9, the whole being made in one piece. That cavity which isturned towards the shots is filled with any material such as felt orsawdust.

In both of the described embodiments the height of the guiding cup is sochosen as to prevent the tightness cup from swinging.

Among the advantages of the wad according to the invention the easy andsure introduction when charging and the reduced number of objects to beplaced into the case are to be mentioned.

Moreover, the wad may be easily adapted to the requirements of thecharging with regard to the compressibility of the Wad which may bevaried according to the speed of the powder. The cup alone serving toensure the tightness or sealing, no radial dilatation is required of thefilling material which may be hard as board or as compressible assawdust or granulated cork.

The maximum damping may even be obtained by maintaining the upper cupempty and by disposing on the upper edge thereof a strong board forsupporting the shot charge.

In the case of an element in one piece wth double concavity, due to thethin walls thereof, it is possible, Without excessively increasing thecost price, to use a quite tight expansive material, such as certainplastic materials, which have for advantage a high flexibility andprevent any hygrometric exchange between the powder and the fillingelements: greatly reducing deterioration of the materials and insuringgood ballistic propertim of the cartridge over long periods of time.

I claim:

A one-piece wad for effectively separating the powder from the shot in ashotgun cartridge case comprising a cylindrical tubular body having athin pliable wall and a transverse partition integral with the thin walllocated between the ends of the tubular body and dividing the body intotwo back-to-back cups, one cup serving as the guiding means for the wadin the cartridge case and the other cup serving as the sealing means inthe cartridge case; the height of the guiding cup being of a size toprevent the sealing cup from swinging or axial misalignment within thecartridge case.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS997,566 Leach July 11, 1911 1,659,649 Ernst et al. Feb. 21, 19281,771,897 ONeil et a1 July 29, 1930 2,073,609 Court Mar. 16, 1937FOREIGN PATENTS 652,108 Germany Oct. 25, 1937

